


The Winter Soldier does NOT go to your Gym

by ididliterallynothingtoday



Series: Sebastian Stan is NOT the Winter Soldier [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: It's hard looking like bucky barnes, Poor paranoid Sebastian :(, Sebastian is not trained for this life, also Natasha is mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 11:17:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20406853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ididliterallynothingtoday/pseuds/ididliterallynothingtoday
Summary: Second part in the "Sebastian Stan is NOT the Winter Soldier" series. In this part Sebastian meets his first Avenger.





	The Winter Soldier does NOT go to your Gym

After a time, the trauma of being picked up by the FBI lessened. Sebastian would be lying if he said that hadn’t suffered as a result of his brief incarceration. He had been jumpy around loud noises for a couple of weeks afterwards, but with the help of his therapist he had over come that. The long sessions he had gone to still hadn’t fully cured him of his paranoia, however. 

Sebastian had thrown himself into a rabbit hole of searches into James Barnes and the Winter Soldier. His mind had reeled with the details of the dossiers that the Black Widow had released online. Things that described in detail the incarceration and torture of the man who shared his face. More than a few times Sebastian had to step away from his laptop to stare out the window, practicing his mindfulness techniques and trying to centre himself before returning to his work. His dining room table was a mess of print outs, text and images that were highlighted and annotated. Sebastian had never really paid that much attention in history class at school but this was different. It felt personal and intimate to research Barnes’ life story. Also, Sebastian seriously wondered why no one had made the comparison between himself and the historical figure sooner given that they were literally identical.

Sebastian had become fully immersed in his investigations, even extending it to read more about the general history of Captain America and the rest of the Howling Commandos. He had become more reclusive as the weeks had gone on. Something about the details of the soldier’s life had managed to creep its way under his skin making it difficult not to be suspicious of those around him. His thoughts were probably still being influenced by some of the PTSD he had suffered from being taken, but for the most part his lingering paranoia stemmed from his reading. He began finding himself thinking of Barnes continuously, and starting to think like Barnes himself might. Double checking locks on doors and windows and pulling all of his blinds shut to stop any potential spies from seeing inside his apartment. But even with his compulsive security checks Sebastian couldn’t get over the fact that he felt like he was being watched. Every time he went out, he pulled his cap low and his hood up, glancing out the corner of his eyes to see if anyone was following him as he went about his business. Over time Sebastian began to only go out when necessary, for things like therapy, shopping and the gym. He began to combine them into as few trips as possible per week. 

Then things started to get strange. When he came home from his forays into the outside world Sebastian began to swear that his things had moved. A cup he thought he had left on the table was to be found in the sink. The angle of a plant slightly changed. A cupboard left minutely ajar when he hadn’t even opened it that day. At first, he tried to put these things down to his mind playing tricks but over the weeks soon it was too much for him. He knew he needed to blow off some steam and so, in spite of himself, Sebastian headed out of his flat. Daring to head out into the cool spring air for the second time that day, following a morning shopping trip. He needed to go to the gym. To work his body into such a state of tiredness that it would take his mind with it and he finally be able to escape his negative thought processes.

Sebastian slipped into the gym without being noticed and locked his belongings securely in one of the lockers. Keeping his eyes downcast, but making a note of the few other people in the room, he headed first to the treadmills for a warm up. As he began to pace, he realised he had forgotten his water bottle at home. Huffing to himself Sebastian upped the speed on the machine and tried to lose himself in the act of running. He hadn’t brought his headphones with him either. That was calculated, however, as he had recently taken to exercising without them. Preferring now to be able to hear what was going on around him.

Once his joints felt warmed up Sebastian left the running machine for the weights, heading around the edge of the room to the racking with the barbells so he could get some squats in. He was always told to exercise with purpose, and focusing on his muscle groups and form would help him take his mind off of things. Sebastian started off with a warm up set with no weights, before beginning to add plates to the bar. As he was loading up a flash of red hair in the mirror in front of him caught his eye. By the time Sebastian looked up to try and identifying the person in the mirror they had gone. Frowning to himself Sebastian continued his workout. He hadn’t noticed anyone with red hair in the gym when he had first arrived.

By the fourth set of squats Sebastian’s thighs and glutes were burning. He closed his eyes and focusing on the pain, gritting his teeth to hit the last squat of the set. As he contemplated upping the weight and hitting a new personal best, he opened his eyes to survey the gym around him. He immediately spotted the top of a red head peeking out on the leg press machine behind him. But given the machine was facing away from him he couldn’t see who the mystery individual was. The gym Sebastian trained at was large and currently it was sparsely occupied. It made him uncomfortable to think someone else was working out so close to him so he quickly gave up on the idea of more squats and decided to head over the dumbbell racks instead to work on his arms. Grabbing a couple of weights, he set himself up on a bench and lay back to start doing chest presses. Normally he would have his PT here to spot him during his chest press. Sebastian was always paranoid about dropping the dumbbells on his face. But today he tried to ignore his negative thoughts in favour of closing his eyes again. Sebastian listened to the gentle clanking of weights and machines around him and feeling the growing ache in his biceps and pectoral muscles as he pushed the weights up and away from his chest before slowly lowering them.

“Need a spot?” A female voice asked making Sebastian jump. He really did nearly drop the dumbbells on his face as he sat up spluttering,

“W-what?”

The red head in front of him smirked, popping her gum and Sebastian froze. It was the Black Widow. Natasha Romanov. At his gym.

“Oh hell no.” he mumbled to himself as he placed his weights down at his feet. Sebastian’s response just seemed to make the smirk on Natasha’s face grow.

“Well that’s rude.” She came to sit on the bench next to his. Sebastian watched every move the spy made. She seemed to be well aware of this, moving in a careful and considered manner as she observed him in return. The smirk left her face and was replaced by something more contemplative. She popped her gum again. “You look just like him you know.” For a moment Sebastian thought he heard a tinge of sadness in her voice. Disappointment almost.

“Yeah I know.” Sebastian hadn’t needed to ask who she was talking about.

Finally, Natasha looked away from him. She gestured to the room around her, “Every keeps reporting that the Winter Soldier goes to their gym. First one I’ve checked out where I almost believed them.” She looked back over to Sebastian, smiling this time. Sebastian merely huffed a laugh in reply. His tongue was thick in his mouth and he was really starting to regret not having his water bottle with him. Not able to think of anything to say he chose instead to pick at the calluses on his palms. He was intimidated just being near Natasha. Something he thought Barnes definitely wouldn’t be.

Natasha hummed, “You look like him. You’re quiet like him,” she sighed, “God Cap would be having a field day if he were here right now.”

Sebastian looked up at the mention of the other super soldier. He hadn’t even thought about what it would be like if he ran into Captain America. He had always figured New York was big enough that they wouldn’t ever run into one another but maybe he was wrong. “I guess that would be kind of awkward.”

Natasha laughed at that, “Kind of is an understatement. His apartment looks almost as much of a mess as yours does. Both covered in pictures of dear old Bucky.”

Sebastian nodded before Natasha’s words actually sunk in. “You’ve been in my apartment!?”

Natasha smirked again and shrugged, “I’m a spy, I’ve been in lots of people’s apartments. I will say this though, I did water your plants as they were looking kind of mangled and dry. I don’t normally do that as part of my services.”

“What do you normally do?”

“Plant bugs. Reconnaissance. Gather evidence. Whatever I need to do.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened, “Is my apartment bugged?”

“Not anymore.” 

“I- you. Ugh!” Sebastian threw his hands up in defeat and Natasha laughed, leaning back on the bench. Their eyes met and Sebastian thought if she were literally anyone else and they were having literally any other conversation this might be considered something akin to flirting. As they looked each other over Natasha’s face began to soften again.

“So, what now?” Sebastian asked.

“So nothing now.” Natasha shrugged, “I mean I guess you go back to your workout or whatever.”

Sebastian nodded. He must have passed whatever little test the Black Widow had been putting him through. Expecting her to leave, Sebastian picked his dumbbells back up and lay down on the bench to continue with his chest presses. Instead of leaving Natasha stepped closer, looming over him, her bright hair haloed by ceiling lights above.

“I had really hoped you would be him,” She said, looking Sebastian’s face over again, “Even just for Cap’s sake.”

“I’m sorry.” Sebastian whispered. 

“Hey don’t be. It’s not your fault. It was nice to meet you though” Natasha gave Sebastian a half smile as she began to move away.

“You too!” He called after her, he closed his eyes taking in a deep breath, preparing himself. He felt somewhat vindicated knowing he hadn’t been going completely crazy over the past few weeks imagining things moving in his apartment. In fact, as he began to work through his reps again Sebastian felt fantastic. Unable to keep a smile off of his face.

But then he felt hot breath tickle his ear.

“One thing I will say before I go, I’ve seen photos of Barnes before the war and you managed to get those thighs without the super soldier serum. I’m kind of impressed.”

Sebastian didn’t even have time to process what was going on or being said. Instead he just squawked at the sudden feeling of another human being in his personal space. He nearly dropped the dumbbells on his face, yet again, but managed to avoid doing so by sliding sideways off the bench away from the presence next to him. He ended up upside down, legs in the air looking up Natasha who was having a very hard time keeping a straight face.

“Yeah,” she said, “Definitely not the Winter Soldier.”


End file.
